German MÜNCH Racing Team Receives Honor

The MÜNCH Racing Team has become the dominant electric motorcycle racing team on the circuits of the world where they compete. MÜNCH captured the title in the 2010 TTXGP World Championship and took the top position in the 2010 FIM e-Power International Championship manufacturer’s points race.

For this grand accomplishment, the German federal government presented the team with a special honor. Team members Thomas Schuricht, Marko Werner, Thomas Petsch, Ralf Ernst, Stefan Stepputtis and rider Matthias Himmelman were all invited to the Berlin office of Germany’s Minister of Economic Affairs and Technology, Rainer Bruderle, to receive this award in late November.

The Championships are significant in and of themselves, but what strikes one as even more noteworthy is that the team accomplished this without the support of any of the major players or sponsors. The team designed and built their electric motorcycle themselves and, as the results have demonstrated, they did this very well.

The MÜNCH TTE-1.2 runs a 90-kilowatt, three-phase synchronous electric motor providing some 70 Nm (51.6 lb/ft) of torque to push 220 kg (485 lbs) of chassis, batteries and components. Suspension is handled by a custom-built Ohlins setup and braking is by Brembo. The balance of the purpose-built chassis puts slightly more weight on the front end allowing for very precise direction control.

MÜNCH Racing has really just started their electric motorcycle racing effort. After all, the championships which they have won have only been around for a few years now. However, MÜNCH was originally founded in 1948 by well-regarded race machine designer and builder Friedel Münch, and they have been racing in various series and classes since then.

The electric motorcycle racing world will have to pay close attention to them now, and you can bet that the German nation is very proud of their nation’s electric motorcycle endeavor and its great success.